Darak by Cara Bristol @CaraBristol

Posted October 3, 2018 by Melanie in Book Review / 27 Comments

Darak by Cara Bristol @CaraBristolDarak by Cara Bristol
Series: Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides #1
Published by Self-Published on July 16, 2018
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 150
Format: eARC
Source: Author
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four-flames
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star

Revenge is best served sweet with a hot, horned alien

Free-spirited pastry chef Lexi Sutterman has discovered that true love is pie in the sky. The only thing more difficult than finding an Earth man willing to commit is pleasing her wealthy, hypercritical family who view her as a failure. So she’s given up on both, focusing her energy on her new bakery. Now that her uber successful little sister manages to nab a well-heeled fiancé, Lexi fights back by joining the Intergalactic Dating Agency. She plans to bring a huge, purple, tentacled alien as her plus-one to the wedding.

Darak of planet Dakon isn't purple or tentacled—he’s just seven feet of horned alien hotness. To get a woman on his world, a guy has to literally win the lottery. Tired of waiting for the Fates to send him a female, he joins the dating service to meet a nice Earth girl to call his own. He recognizes Lexi as his true mate, but realizes convincing her they’re meant to be together forever and not just a weekend will be no cake walk.

But when a sweet-tart pastry chef and a horned alien hottie fall in love, everyone might get their just desserts…

* * * *
DARAK: Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides is a new science fiction romance series and a spin-off from the author’s Alien Mate series. In the Alien Mate books, Earth women travel to planet Dakon to become the mail order brides of aliens.
In the Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides series, the aliens get tired of waiting for their ship bringing women to come in, so they join the Intergalactic Dating Agency and go to Earth.

 

This is the first book in Cara Bristol’s Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides series, which is a spinoff from her Alien Mate series. You can read this series without having read the Alien Mate series, but I don’t think this series really covers how life is on Dakon, which would make understanding Darak a little bit harder. It is covered, just not to the detail as in the original series.

Alexandra Sutterman is a successful woman if you judged her by her pastry business, Your Just Desserts. However, she was not successful in the eyes of her mother. Her mother considered her business to be little more than a hobby. She was also upset Lexi hadn’t found a man to marry. Lexi’s mother wouldn’t even let Lexi bake the cake for her own sister’s wedding, it was going to be done by a “professional”. So Lexi decided  she would really upset her mom and bring an alien to the wedding as her plus one.

Why did you decide to seek an alien mate?
“Torqueing my mother’s gourd” probably wasn’t the right answer. Deferred adolescent rebellion? Ditto. I couldn’t be too honest, or I’d be screened out of the program.
“I’m looking for true love, and I’m willing to search the galaxy to find it,” I wrote. I didn’t think I had a snowball’s chance of finding amore with an extraterrestrial, but I’d give the agency a shot at helping me out. As long as I got a date for the wedding weekend, I’d consider this experience a win.
How open-minded are you? Are you aware aliens may differ physically, socially, and culturally from humans?
Well, I hoped so! What would be the point of bringing a button-downed preppie home to meet Mom?
“The heart does not see differences, it sees only similarities,” I wrote.

Darak arrived on Earth without a large amount of knowledge on the place. He did have a fair amount of money from the illuvian ore he traded for money. He quickly determined that Alexandra was his mate. He knew it from the first time he saw her. Now he just needed to convince her of that fact.

I did have a job to do: make her happy and bring a smile to her face. I glanced at her mother. And nobody was going to stop me.

This romance has a few bumps in the road, since they come together for different reasons, but the pair quickly comes together and starts to see eye to eye. Lexi also continues to stand up to her mother who tries her best to prevent this from forming into a full relationship. Lexi’s sister even sees the relationship for what it is, sooner than Lexi does.

Since this is the first story that really has a large family dynamic, it made me realize we don’t know a whole lot about Dakon families. Sure, the first two books, the heroes are brothers, but there is no mention of parents or elders. We also don’t know much about Dakonian lifespans. Are the similar to humans? Do they have multi-generational relationships, similar to how we do on Earth? Just something I didn’t really think about when reading the original series, set on Dakon. But, with this story set on Earth, with our normal family dramas, made me wonder about Dakon.

I continue to enjoy these light, sci-fi romances. The characters are enjoyable and likable. You really root for the couple to come together as they hit the small bumps in the road.

About Cara Bristol

Author: Cara Bristol

Cara Bristol continues to evolve, adding new subgenres of erotic romance to her repertoire. She has written spanking romance, contemporary romance, paranormal, and science fiction romance. No matter what the genre, one thing remains constant: her emphasis on character-driven seriously hot erotic stories with sizzling chemistry between the hero and heroine. Cara has lived many places in the United States, but currently lives in Missouri with her husband. She has two grown stepkids. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading and traveling.

Rating Breakdown
Plot
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Writing
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Characters
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Dialogue
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Overall: One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Melanie
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Posted October 3, 2018 by Melanie in Book Review / 27 Comments


27 responses to “Darak by Cara Bristol

  1. the author asked me about this one but I was anxious about he alien side I confess… It’s usually complicated for me

  2. Yes, this one did turn the focus to what Dakon family and daily life is like when not in the middle of a mail order courtship situation. I enjoyed seeing the alien-human culture clash in this one a reverse from the earlier series.

  3. Thank you for the awesome review! I’m glad you enjoyed Darak! The second book, Aton, will release Oct. 22, and the third book, Caid, on Nov. 8 They’re also light, fun & funny romantic reads.

  4. I bought a copy of this one yesterday and am looking forward to reading it. I like the sound of this one and how the aliens come to earth in this series. It sounds like a nice romance with a few bumps they have to overcome. Great review!

    • Melanie

      Right? Her mother was pretty mean to her. I can’t imagine a parent treating their child like that (though I know it happens all the time). I glad she found someone to love, even if it started out to spite her mom.

      Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart

  5. I am glad to hear that you had a fun time with this one. I haven’t read Cara Bristol…YET. But you know I love sci fi romance so I will have to grab this one up especially since I love the mail order bride trope whether its sci fi or historical western. Thanks for sharing darling.